Epperson, Ralph

Ralph Deward Epperson was born was born 5 April 1921, to Harry and Lula Watson Epperson in Patrick County, Va. He attended Blue Ridge High School in Ararat, Va., and earned a Bachelor of Science in radio engineering from John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Ark. During World War II, Epperson worked at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. He later lived with his wife, Earlene Shaw Epperson, and their two children in Mount Airy, N.C.

Epperson built and founded radio station WPAQ 740 AM in Mount Airy. WPAQ began broadcasting in February 1948 and was the first radio station in Surry County, N.C. As head of the radio station, Epperson made a commitment to devote time each day to promoting local musicians and the region's traditional bluegrass, old-time, and gospel music. WPAQ maintained this commitment over the next several decades, even as many other rural stations switched to more commercial formats. The weekly show Merry-Go-Round, still broadcast as of 2006, the third-oldest live radio program in the United States, features bluegrass and old-time music performed by local and traveling artists.

Ralph Epperson also helped found and establish radio stations WBRG in Lynchburg, Va.; WPNC AM and FM in Plymouth, N.C.; WPMH in Portsmouth, Va.; and WBRF 98.1 FM in Galax, Va. He received many awards for his work in radio, including the International Bluegrass Music Association's Distinguished Achievement Award, the Award of Merit from the International Bluegrass Music Association, and induction into the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Epperson has been widely credited with contributing to the preservation of the music of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina and Virginia. He died 31 May 2006 in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Sources: David Pruett, WPAQ Radio ( Country Music Annual 2002 ); Ralph Deward Epperson obituary ( Winston-Salem Journal, 1 June 2006).

From the guide to the Ralph Epperson Collection, 1943-2006, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection.)